1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates principally to a printing medium capable of recording with a recording agent such as an ink, an ink containing a solid ink in a state dissolved therein or a toner in which powder is dissolved, an ink-jet printing process using this medium, and an apparatus capable of using as an ink-jet printing apparatus in recording instruments such as copying machines and facsimiles, communication instruments, business instruments, multi-functional instruments, printers, etc. In particular, the present invention relates to a printing medium suitable for use in conducting ink-jet printing (textile printing) on a cloth using ink-jet printing means and an ink-jet printing process using this medium.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, textile printing apparatuses making use of an ink-jet recording technique have been put to practical use, and printed cloths with high definition have come to be produced by a simple process. However, these apparatuses are all industrial printing apparatuses, and it is hence substantially difficult under the circumstances for users to easily conduct printing with high definition as they please.
As an invention relating to such an ink-jet printing process, Yoshida, et al. disclose, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-55277, an ink-jet printing cloth in which a compound not substantially dyed is contained in an amount of 0.1 to 50% by weight in the cloth, and an ink-jet printing process using this cloth. According to this process, bleeding in ink-jet textile printing can be prevented. In all examples thereof, however, initial feedability of cloth in commercially-available ink-jet printers is not considered. Therefore, its use is virtually limited to a field of industrial textile printing.
As an invention by the same applicant as in the present invention, Koike, et al. disclose, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-53492, a textile printing process comprising applying a recording liquid containing a water-soluble dye to a cloth by an ink-jet system and then optionally subjecting the cloth to a dyeing treatment, wherein a recording liquid-receiving layer having a viscosity of at least 1 Paxc2x7s at 25xc2x0 C. is formed on the cloth. According to this process, an ink, or the recording liquid is received in the flowable receiving layer, whereby bleeding can be prevented to obtain an ink-jet printed cloth high in quality. In an example thereof, a 100% cotton broadcloth is immersed in a liquid for the recording liquid-receiving layer having a viscosity of 2.2 Paxc2x7s and then lightly squeezed to remove an excess amount of the liquid for the receiving layer. The thus-treated cloth is laminated on a commercially-available paper sheet for reporting to make the cloth easy to feed to an ink-jet printer, and then immediately set in the printer, thereby conducting printing on the cotton surface of the cloth. The cloth is then taken out of the printer to iron it, thereby conducting fixing. Thereafter, the cloth is washed with a neutral detergent to remove the receiving layer, thereby obtaining a printed cloth by the ink-jet printer. In another example thereof, a 50% aqueous solution of an agent for a recording liquid-receiving layer having a viscosity of 15 Paxc2x7s is coated by a bar coater on a shirting composed of 65% of cotton and 35% of linen. The shirting is dried by hot air at 80xc2x0 C. for 1 hour to obtain a printing cloth. Printing is conducted on the cloth using an ink-jet printer, followed by a dyeing treatment by ironing and washing with a neutral detergent, thereby obtaining an ink-jet printed cloth. The ink-jet printed cloths produced in the examples fully satisfy resolution of straight Lines at intervals of 1.5 mm, and moreover have neither blurring nor bleeding and are sufficient in color depth. One advantage of the above invention is also that it can be applied to not only industrial textile printing, but also textile printing for pleasure in general homes. More specifically, ink-jet textile printing can be conducted in homes so long as the liquid for the recording liquid-receiving layer, a cloth, an ink-jet printer and a dryer, and a commercially-available plain paper sheet, iron and detergent are available. Of these, the recording liquid-receiving liquid suitable for recording liquids and cloths is not commonly sold. Therefore, it is only necessary to purchase it at an ink-jet printer manufacturer or the like.
Processes other than the ink-jet recording, for example, a process in which color printing is conducted using a xe2x80x9cPrintgokkoxe2x80x9d (manufactured by Riso Kagaku K. K.) widely spread as a simplified printing machine, followed by a heat treatment with an iron, and the like are disclosed. In the textile printing making use of such a simplified printing machine, limitations as to the size and shape of a base cloth are scarce. However, an area printed by one operation is small from the viewpoint of the evenness of printing pressure. Therefore, the printing of a wide area is conducted in plural portions under the circumstances. The process has hence involved a problem that the alignment of registers in the whole printing is difficult, and so delicate changes in color tone and expression with high definition are difficult to achieve.
In the background of the present invention, there is an ink-jet textile printing making use of an ink-jet printer as the most promising process among the conventional simple printing processes. The reason of this is that with the recent rapid advancement of ink-jet techniques, small-sized and low-priced color ink-jet recording apparatus have come to spread in a field of so-called ink-jet recording apparatuses, by which color image data transferred from a host unit or the like can be recorded on a recording medium in the form of a cut sheet such as paper using an ink-jet technique. However, the constitution disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-53492 has become difficult to apply to an advanced ink-jet printer in recent years as it is. More specifically, in Example 1 of the publication, the staining on the feeding means of the ink-jet printer by a liquid for a recording liquid-receiving layer, which has a high viscosity but is flowable, the easiness of feeding and feedability of a printing cloth are improved by laminating a commercially-available paper sheet for reporting on the cloth. In Example 2, a liquid for a recording liquid-receiving layer, which is higher in viscosity, is applied to the recording surface of a cloth and dried to feed the cloth to the ink-jet printer without using a base sheet. However, these processes are difficult to provide sufficient feedability to conduct high-definition printing by an automatic feeder making good use of a recent ink-jet printer which permits higher resolution and definition. In the ink-jet printer used in the above-described examples, the recording medium is manually set on a cylindrical platen which is a main feeding means. Therefore, either the cloth on which the base sheet is only laminated as described above, or the cloth by itself can be fed to the printer. However, since most of the recent ink-jet printers are constituted so as to automatically feed a recording medium to a feeding means, the above-described cloth is difficult to feed to the feeding means of such an ink-jet printer as it is.
The fibers making up the cloth have some hygroscopicity according to the ambient humidity though it may vary depending upon its kind. The degree of this moisture absorption generally becomes higher as the ambient humidity is high. If some prints are continuously obtained by feeding a cloth in an ink-jet printing apparatus, the cloth is generally fed in the form of a roll cloth or stacked cut sheets set in an automatic paper feeder. In such a case, portions of the roll cloth or cut sheets of cloth overlap with each other, and so static electricity tends to be generated at the overlapped portions. The quantity of this static electricity increases as the cloth is dried and hence absorbs less moisture. In particular, this problem becomes serious when the medium is made of synthetic fibers and is in a low-humidity environment because the hygroscopic degree of the cloth is markedly low.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a simple textile printing process and an apparatus using an ink-jet technique, and more particularly to provide a simple ink-jet printing process which permits the use of an ink-jet printer capable of automatically feeding a cloth to a feeding means of the printer, an ink-jet printing apparatus which can automatically feed a cloth subjected to a pretreatment for receiving inks to a feeding means thereof to conduct printing, and a printing medium in the form of a cut sheet, which is suitable for use in such a process and apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of applying the high-definition color representation according to the simple ink-jet textile printing process using the ink-jet technique to not only an industrial field, but also a field of textile printing for pleasure in general homes.
The above objects can be achieved by the present invention described below.
According to the present invention, there is thus provided a printing medium comprising a cloth and having a Clark stiffness not lower than 10, but not higher than 400 at least at its ends.
According to the present invention there is also provided a printing medium comprising a base material and a cloth integrally provided on one side of the base material through an ink-absorbing adhesive layer, wherein the printing medium has a Clark stiffness not lower than 10, but not higher than 400.
According to the present invention there is further provided a printing medium comprising a cloth treated with a stiffening agent and having a Clark stiffness not lower than 10, but not higher than 400.
According to the present invention there is still further provided an ink-jet textile printing process comprising printing with inks on the printing medium as described above by means of an ink-jet printing apparatus capable of feeding a cut sheet, and then separating the cloth from the base material to obtain a printed cloth.
According to the present invention there is yet still further provided an ink-jet textile printing process comprising printing with inks on the printing medium as described above by means of an ink-jet printing apparatus capable of feeding a cut sheet to obtain a printed cloth.
According to the present invention there is yet still further provided an ink-jet textile printing apparatus comprising a means for feeding a cut sheet, an ink-jet printing means for applying ink droplets to the cut sheet fed by the feeding means and a heating means for heating the cut sheet, wherein the apparatus comprises a textile printing mode for actuating the heating means when the printing medium described above is used as the cut sheet.
According to the present invention there is yet still further provided a printing medium applied with a stiffening agent having a Clark stiffness not lower than 10, but not higher than 400 and subjected to a smoothing treatment at its surface.
According to the present invention there is yet still further provided a process for producing a printing medium, which comprises the steps of applying a stiffening agent to a raw material for the printing medium to conduct a stiffening treatment in such a manner that the raw material has a Clark stiffness not lower than 10, but not higher than 400 and smoothing the raw material subjected to the stiffening treatment.
According to the present invention there is yet still further provided an ink-jet textile printing process comprising applying inks to the printing medium described above in accordance with an ink-jet system to conduct printing.
According to the present invention there is yet still further provided a printing medium suitable for use in printing with inks containing an ionic dye, wherein a stiffening agent having an ionicity which undergoes no ionic bonding to the dye and a dye-fixing agent having an ionicity opposite to that of the dye are applied to the medium.
According to the present invention there is yet still further provided an ink-jet textile printing process comprising printing on the printing medium described above in accordance with an ink-jet system.
According to the present invention there is yet still further provided a printed article obtained by printing on the printing medium described above in accordance with an ink-jet system, washing the printed medium to remove the stiffening agent from the medium and then drying the medium.